Fabric for machine-belting



' UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

JOSHUA P. MADDOX, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

FABRIC FOR MACHlNE-BELTING, 80C.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 400,579, dated April 2, 1889.

Application filed March 1, 1889. gerial No. 301,594. (No specimens.)

To uZZ whom, it may concern.-

' Be it known that I, JOSHUA P. MADDox, a citizen of the United States, residing at Portland, in the county of Cumberland and State of Maine, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Fabrics for Machine- Beltingand for other Purposes; and I do hereby declarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such aswill enable others skilled in the art to which it ap-' pertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to that class of fabrics used for machine-belting wherein metal wire is used for a warp or is laid in the fabric longitudinally for the purpose of bearing the strain. These fabricshave heretofore been woven in a single ply formed of wire warp and a fibrous weft, and they have also been woven of two or more plies. Where the fabric has been woven of two or more plies, the wire has either been laid in between the 1 plies, in which case it did not form a proper warp, the various plies having been .held together and held in contact with the wire by running binders. from one face of the fabric completely through to the other, or the wires have been interwoven with a weft-thread forming a separate ply, the exterior plies of fibrous material being ,bound together and upon the middle partly-metal ply by binders passing completely through the fabric from one face to the other. One difficulty with belting of this character has been that the devise a fabric in which the warp-wires shall be bound as completely as possible to the fibrous threads, thus preventing any movement of the warp-wires in the body of the fabric, and also enabling a strong laced or other joint to be made, as in ordinary leather belts.

sent a five-ply fabric constructed according to my invention.

, In the drawings, Figurelis a longitudinal section of my improved fabric, and Fig. 2 is a transverse section on the line :1; as in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a general plan view with parts cut away.

-.A represents a weft thread or threads, B the fibrous warps, and D the Wires. As shown, the weft A is interwoven with the wires D in a manner to form therewith a single ply, the said weft being shown in Fig. 2 as first carried from the righthand side of the fabric to the left, interweaving with the'wires D, and then back again from left to right, interweaving withthe wires D. The weft A is next interwoven with the fibrous warps B of the inner ply below the wires and then with the fibrous warp of the inner ply above the wires. Finally, the weft passes from right to left, interweaving with the fibrous warp ofthe outer ply below the wires D, and then returns from left to right again, interweaving with the fibrous warps of the outer ply above the said wires. The manner of weaving described produces five superimposed plies of fabric. In order to bind the whole together and hold the wires and fabric securely in such a manner as to prevent them from having any longitudinal movement whatever, I employ binding-warps E. These warps pass from the middle of the fabric outward to the opposite faces of the fabric, extending around the weft-threads of the outmost plies, and then returning to the innermost ply-namely, that warps and wefts on each side of the wires, I may form one ply only, or I may form more than two, if desirable. The wire D, I prefer to use of sufficient size so that it will lie in the fabric nearly straight or with slight defiection, the weft-threads C of the inner ply being thus caused to cross each other. The binders E E are in two sets, extending in from the outer ply of each face and interlocking with the weft-threads of the inner ply. The binders from each face interlock with alternate weft-threads of the inner ply, as here shown. As a result of this construction the alternate weftrthreads of the inner ply are pulled by the binder-warps in opposite directions, so that the wire is securely held and prevented from having any longitudinal motion. By this means I am enabled to use wires of larger size than are practicable in other belts, for the reason that the binding to the wire is more firm.

As here shown 1 have made every alternate warp-thread on either side a binder; but I may use a greater or less number of wires and binders, according to the strength required and the size of the wire.

The fabric here shown will be found well adapted for use where great longitudinal strength is required. The wires will be closely knit to the body of the fabric and will not move longitudinally in the belt. They maybe of comparatively large size, and yet be kept firmly in place by the binding eifect of the binding-warp. A pull on the binders exerts a binding tension on the wire at every pick, and so retains it solidly in place.

I claim The herein-described fabric for machinebelting and for other like purposes, having an inner ply composed of a wire warp and a fibrous weft, and one or more plies of facing material of fibrous material on each side of said inner ply and bound thereto by binders extending from said facing-plies to the said inner ply and back through said facing-plies and interlocking with the weft of said inner ply, substantially as shown.

In tcstimon y whereof I aifix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSHUA P. MADDOX.

\Vitnesses:

WM. M. HAGGETT, S. W. BATES. 

